comparelisted
Install: claude install-skill wookat/ai-research-skills
# Compare: same-epoch run comparison across trackers
The most common comparison error is reporting "run A is 4 percentage points behind baseline" when run A is at epoch 11 of 100 and the baseline number is from epoch 100. The student is _still training_; the comparison is meaningless. This skill enforces same-epoch alignment.
The agentic Stop hook routes here from `reason` when an assistant reports a delta without aligning the runs.
## When to run
The user just said any of:
- "compare run A to baseline / to run B"
- "is my run improving / catching up / falling behind"
- "rank these experiments"
- "X vs Y wandb / neptune"
- "track lag against baseline"
## Auto-detect the tracker
Check in this order:
1. `WANDB_API_KEY` env var set, or `wandb` imports in the project → **wandb**
2. `NEPTUNE_API_TOKEN` env var set → **neptune**
3. `MLFLOW_TRACKING_URI` env var set, or `mlruns/` dir present → **mlflow**
4. `runs/` or `lightning_logs/` dir present → **tensorboard**
5. `*results*.json` / `*meta*.json` files in run dirs → **local file format**
If none, ask the user where metrics live before guessing.
## The protocol
### 1. Identify the runs
Get full names (no shortcodes). If the user says "fvs-fm vs the baseline", clarify:
- which `fvs-fm` run (project + entity + run-id)
- which baseline (full run name; baselines often have several variants)
### 2. Fetch metric history (not just final value)
You need the full curve, not the last reported value. Final-value-only comparis